We're a Couple of Misfits
by icbiwf
Summary: Katniss is being forced into a career she doesn't want. Peeta is being forced to hide his physical differences. When two runaways meet, they form a bond that could change the world. An Everlark adventure inspired by the Rankin/Bass "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" holiday special.


Oh, hello there. How are you enjoying the celebration? Good thing the snow held off so everyone was able to make it today. I love the Harvest Festival. I've always thought that this is the most wonderful time of the year.

_It's the most wonderful time of the year  
__When we all come together  
__And brave the cold weather  
__For free food and beer!  
__It's the most wonderful time of the year!_

_It's the hap- happiest season of all  
__When we celebrate our lib-  
__-eration, freedom, and  
__Acceptance for all!  
__It's the hap- happiest season of all!_

What's that? You want to hear a story. Oh, that's why you've sought me out, isn't it? You want to hear _the_ story. You want me to tell you the story of the 74th annual Harvest Festival. You want to hear the story of the Misfit Lovers from District 12. Well, have a seat, it's a long one.

The 74th Harvest Festival was the biggest and best that District 12 had ever seen, all thanks to the Misfit Lovers, Katniss and Peeta. Everybody knows that. But do you know the real story of how that came to be, or just the rumors and myths that everyone thinks is the real story? Ah, I've caught your attention now, haven't I?

Before I can tell you about the 74th Harvest Festival, I have to explain everything that came before. We begin the summer before the Festival.

…..

"But I don't want to be a coal miner! I want to be a hunter!"

Katniss Everdeen was having a singularly unproductive conversation with her mother.

"Katniss, you know that's folly," the older woman said. Her voice was unyielding, but not unkind. She understood the younger woman's desire to follow her heart, but she also knew that she had to make her daughter face reality. "We live in District 12, and in District 12, we mine coal. It's been that way since the Dark Days. If we don't mine coal, the Abominable Snow-Man will destroy us."

The Abominable Snow-Man had arrived 74 years earlier. Nobody knew where it had come from, only what it did. During the Dark Days, the Snow-Man had inflicted terrible devastation on the districts. None could stand up to the monster's fearsome power. Now every district had assigned duties - District 1 mining gems and precious metals, District 2 stonework and warfare, District 4 fishing, District 12 coal. The Snow-Man ruled through fear; if any district wasn't fulfilling its obligations, the Abominable Snow-Man would show up and wreak havoc in the district. Everybody knew what happened to District 13, wiped out when it refused to fulfill it's graphite-mining duties.

District 12 was surrounded by an electric fence, supposedly to protect the district from the Snow-Man, but also to keep the people trapped in the district. The fence was a joke, though - it was hardly ever electrified. The Snow-Man wouldn't bother them as long as they met their coal quotas, and it was fear of the Snow-Man that kept the people inside the fence. It didn't work on everyone, though. Katniss regularly ventured to the woods outside the fence on her hunting trips. So far she had not had a direct confrontation with the Abominable Snow-Man, only occasionally hearing its terrible roar from far in the distance.

Katniss had just turned 17 a few months earlier. The day was approaching when she would be considered an adult, and unless they were from the handful of merchant families who ran the shops in town, adults in District 12 mined coal. But Katniss detested the idea. Her father had died in the coal mine, and she couldn't imagine forcing herself into the same mine that had taken him away from her. What she wanted to do was hunt, to bring food into the district and feed people. Her father had taught her to hunt on his rare days off from the mine, and it was Katniss's one true passion.

After her mother left the room, Katniss was left to ponder her dilemma yet again. She sighed, and quietly hummed an old tune her father had taught her.

_Why am I such a misfit?  
__I am not just a nit-wit  
__Just because I hunt with a bow  
__Why can't I fit in?_

The whole thing seemed so unfair to Katniss. As she sat in her kitchen chair and stewed, she watched her little sister Prim in the next room. Her mother was right, if she didn't go into the mines she would be putting the entire district in danger, including Prim. But Katniss was right about herself as well, there was no way she could go down into that mine every day, not after seeing her father torn apart in her nightmares every night.

That left her with only one option. She had to go someplace where she wouldn't be a threat to those around her. She had to run away into the woods.

...

On the other side of the district, the baker's youngest son was having a similarly unproductive discussion with his mother.

"But Mom, it's so uncomfortable to wear this thing all day! I don't see why I can't take it off for a while when I'm sitting at the counter."

His mother slapped him across the face. It was hardly the first time it had happened, but unbeknownst to both of them, it would be the last. "You stupid, worthless boy," the older woman snarled. "You'd better keep that prosthetic on - and well hidden! - every second you're in this bakery. No one decent will buy bread from a one-legged freak!"

It had been the refrain of his whole life. Peeta Mellark had been born with only one leg, and had used one prosthetic after another his whole life. But his family were the only ones who knew; his mother insisted that keeping the secret was of paramount importance. He wasn't sent to school with the other children. He wasn't allowed to join in any of their childhood games. His mother warned him that if the other children knew about his deformity, they would laugh at him and call him names.

Peeta had gone along with the deception throughout his childhood, accepting without question the shame and humiliation his mother taught him. Even his best friend Delly didn't know about his leg. He mutely accepted the pain of wearing the prosthetic for far too many hours at a time while doing strenuous work in the bakery. But now as he approached adulthood, he was starting to question things. Would his friends really think less of him if they knew the truth? His mother always said his disability made him weak, but how many one-legged boys could handle a hundred-pound bag of flour as easily as he could? Why must he continue to hide himself?

As if in answer to his silent question, his mother spoke again. "You listen to me, you stupid creature. You keep that pathetic deformity of yours hidden, keep that prosthetic on, and get off your lazy ass and get to work on those cakes for the mayor's party next week!" With that she quickly exited to the apartment upstairs.

Peeta was left alone with his thoughts as he began absent-mindedly icing a cake. Cake design was his favorite task at the bakery, because it was the only outlet he was allowed for his artistic inclinations. He loved baking, he loved feeding people, but he also wanted to draw and paint and create beautiful things. But his mother thought art was a waste of time. "Are we going to eat a pretty picture?"

Peeta sighed. He let his mind wander, and found himself absent-mindedly humming an old tune he had overheard one of miners singing when he was younger.

_Why am I such a misfit?  
__I am not just a nit-wit  
__Just because my leg won't grow  
__Why don't I fit in?_

"Quiet down there!" his mother's voice called from upstairs. Peeta flinched at the sound, then angrily threw down his piping bag. His life would never change so long as he remained here, under his mother's thumb. He had to get away somehow. And if he did, he couldn't stay in the district. His only refuge would be the woods.

…..

Katniss kept an eye out for Peacekeepers as she approached the district fence. Peacekeepers weren't a bad lot, overall, but their job was to keep everyone in line to avoid the wrath of the Abominable Snow-Man, and when they caught someone who they thought was risking the entire district's safety, they sometimes got a bit carried away with their punishments. If they caught her trying to escape into the woods, they would at the least stop her, possibly flog her.

There were no Peacekeepers in sight, but as she approached the hole in the fence where she usually entered the woods Katniss spied a lone figure standing near the entrance, a stocky boy about her age, with tufts of soft blond hair sticking out from under his knit hat. As she approached with the silent tread she'd learned through years of hunting, the boy's attention remained focused on the entrance to the woods. Finally Katniss cleared her throat, attracting the boy's attention. When he turned to her, she saw that his eyes were a striking blue, open wide with surprise.

Peeta looked up from the fence and got his first look at the person who had found him out. She was shorter than him, but the way she carried herself made her seem more imposing. Her dark olive skin contrasted with the gleaming silver of her eyes, and her long black hair was tied up in a practical braid. "Oh, is this your hole?" he asked nervously.

Somehow, his discomfort set her at ease. Katniss shrugged. "Not really, it's just the one I use the most."

The boy nodded. "I'm Peeta," he said.

"Katniss," she replied. And because she wanted to assert her new identity, she added, "I'm a hunter."

"Wow, really?" Peeta asked.

"Yes," Katniss said, bristling under what she thought was his incredulity.

"Wow," he said. "I'm just a baker."

They stood silent for a moment. "So what are you doing at the fence?" Katniss asked.

Peeta puffed up his chest, trying to sound more confident than he was. "I'm leaving the district."

"Oh yeah?" Katniss tried to sound as confident as Peeta had as she answered. "Me too. Nobody will let me be a hunter here, so I'm leaving."

"That's great," he said. "I'm sick of hiding from everyone, so I'm gonna go where there's no one to hide from."

"What are you hiding?" Katniss asked, realizing too late how invasive the question was.

Peeta faltered for a moment, but rallied his bravado. The reason he was doing this was so he wouldn't have to hide anymore. With a burst of courage he was faking more than actually feeling, he lifted his pant leg to expose his prosthetic. "I have a fake leg. I was born with only one leg."

Katniss studied the prosthetic. She had never seen anything like it. "You can walk around on that thing?"

"Oh, yes," Peeta said. "After all these years, I barely notice it anymore."

Katniss couldn't imagine that. She changed the subject. "So where are you headed?"

Peeta shrugged. "I don't know. Just away from here. How about you?"

"I don't really know either," she admitted. "I've never been more than a few hours away from the fence before."

"Wanna travel together?" he asked impulsively. "We could watch each other's backs, I bet it's dangerous to go alone."

Katniss considered his offer. It would probably be safer than traveling alone, especially overnights. "You don't mind that I'm a hunter?"

Peeta shook his head. "Out there? A hunter is probably the best traveling companion I could hope for. As long as you don't mind that I've only got one leg."

"As long as you can keep up, what do I care?" she said. It was the most accepting thing anyone had ever said to him, and he couldn't wipe the wide smile from his face.

He extended his hand towards his new companion. "Allies?"

Katniss took his hand and shook to seal their deal. "Allies."

Katniss went through the fence first. Peeta followed, careful of his prosthetic, and accepted Katniss's help in getting back to his feet. Peeta had felt the anxiety of hiding his disability his whole life, but as they made their way further into the forest, he could feel the anxiety leaving him. The first time he looked behind them and couldn't see the fence anymore, he took a deep breath, and felt free for the first time in his life.

"What are you humming?" Katniss asked sharply.

The question startled him; he hadn't realized he was humming anything until she pointed it out. "Um, I don't know where it's from. I heard a miner humming it once when he came to the bakery, years ago. It just kind of stuck in my head."

Katniss was silent for a long moment. "My father used to sing that song," she said quietly.

She didn't say anything else about it. After a few minutes, Peeta resumed his humming. After a bit, Katniss began humming along with him. They exchanged shy smiles as they continued their impromptu duet.

They continued like this, making good time with their hike and entertaining themselves with the music, until Katniss's humming ceased and her voice filled the air.

_I go out to the forest to hunt with a bow_

Peeta stopped walking and stared. He had never heard such a beautiful singing voice before. Even the birds in the trees around them had stopped to listen. He had already been falling for the fierce beauty who accepted him as he was, but he knew that he was a goner now that he had heard her sing.

Katniss looked at him in question, concerned by his reaction. He could see embarrassment spreading on her face. Desperate to hear her sing again, he joined in with his own shaky voice.

_I've got a leg that just didn't grow_

Katniss flashed him a small smile, before she ducked her head and turned to continue on their way. As Peeta resumed the hike at her side, they sang in unison, both seeking to express the same sentiment.

_We're not just misfits anymore  
__Now, we're part of a team!_

…..

Peeta and Katniss made a good team. They complimented each other. Katniss was silent when on the hunt, and when she wasn't hunting, Peeta was loud enough to scare away any unwanted animal attention. Katniss caught their food; Peeta cooked it. Years of tending the ovens at the bakery had made him a whiz at fires, how to kindle them and how to contain them so they didn't catch the whole forest on fire.

Peeta was a sponge for knowledge; he would never be a hunter with his heavy, uneven tread, but he absorbed every bit of expertise Katniss shared with him about which plants were safe and which were deadly. The only error he ever made was when he collected some new berries he hadn't seen before. Katniss panicked when he showed them to her; they turned out to be deadly nightlock berries. While he felt bad for scaring Katniss, the hug she pulled him into in relief when he assured her he hadn't eaten any of the berries was anything but unwelcome.

They traveled northeast from District 12, away from the other districts. They knew the winter would be harsher than if they had traveled south toward District 11, but they wanted to move away from the territory controlled by the Snow-Man, if possible.

With nothing else to fill the time, they spent a lot of time talking. It wasn't long before they knew everything about each other. She knew about his life, his mother, how his father and brothers never stuck up for him against her. He knew about her father, about her deathly fear of the mines, about how precious her sister was to her. After a month of traveling they were as close as two friends could be, but they could both feel the urge to be anything but friends.

They seemed to be dancing around the growing closeness between them. Katniss had some inkling of what she was feeling, but she tried to deny it. She had never been interested in anyone that way, and the circumstances were hardly ideal for a blossoming romance. Peeta could sense her reluctance, and didn't want to make her feel pressured, especially when they were depending on each other for survival. But their unspoken feelings lead to awkward situations. They would often sleep next to each other, and wake up tightly entwined as if they had been trying to envelop one another in their sleep. It wasn't lost on Katniss that she never had nightmares on those nights. As summer turned to fall and the nights began to grow colder, they had to share the one sleeping bag they had with them, both relishing the feel of the other's body pressed up against theirs but neither wanting to let the other know that. They would each occasionally catch the other staring at them. Katniss was fascinated by the pale blond hairs on his arms, and his impossibly long eyelashes. Peeta studied her thick black hair, dreaming of what it would feel like freed from its braid, running between his fingers. At times Katniss only just held herself back from reaching out and running her hand along the stubble covering his jawline. Sometimes remembering her family made Katniss look so sad that it was everything Peeta could do to not pull her into a tight embrace and try to kiss the pain away.

About six weeks after leaving District 12, the team came across what appeared to be an ideal place to stay for a while. A wide open lake, so large that they couldn't make out the opposite shore. The lake was teeming with life, schools of fish and flocks of waterfowl. The edge of the forest was only a hundred yards from the lakeshore, so they weren't cut off from the game to be found there. But right by the lakeshore was a small concrete building, a single 12-foot-square room with a fireplace at one end. There were no other furnishings, just a bare concrete floor to lay their sleeping bag on, but inside they would be warmed by the fire, protected from the elements, and safe from any predatory animals that might find them overnight. It was the ideal place to wait out the upcoming winter.

Exploring around the lakeside, Peeta pointed out a collection of three-petal white flowers, having learned well from Katniss that many flowering plants had edible roots. Katniss bashfully explained that those were in fact her namesake, katniss flowers. "They're beautiful," Peeta said, and they both knew what he really meant.

As they walked back to the little house that would be their home for the next several months, they both found their thoughts turning to the prospect of living in such close quarters for so long a time, and each tried to sneak glances at the other without being noticed. They were sufficiently distracted with this pursuit that they didn't notice the man running towards them along the waterline until he was barely a hundred yards away. He appeared to be middle-aged, with dark scraggly hair and a big bushy beard covering his face. He gave the impression of someone from District 12; he shared Katniss's Seam looks and clutched a miner's pick in his left hand as he pumped his arms. He was a surprisingly swift runner, considering the noticeable paunch he was also carrying, but the circumstances certainly called for swiftness.

For another hundred yards behind him was the Abominable Snow-Man.

At least fifteen feet tall, powerfully built, and covered in thick white fur, the sight of the Snow-Man stopped Katniss and Peeta in their tracks. This was the nightmare that terrorized Panem. The greatest fear of every child in every district, and of the adults too. The monster let out a blood-curdling roar, displaying a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and nearly causing Katniss and Peeta to have to change their underwear. The pair were frozen in fear of the great beast, and stood still where they were until the running man roughly shoved his way between them.

"What the hell are you doing?" the man bellowed between heavy breaths as he passed them. "Don't you want to stay alive? Run! Run!"

Awoken from their momentary stupor, the pair turned to follow the man. Katniss could easily have caught up with him, but she slowed to stay with Peeta. While six weeks of travel had taught him to deal with the uneven terrain of the wild, and a lifetime of hiding had made him adept at walking with his prosthetic, neither the newness of his wilderness skills nor the clumsiness of his appendage lent themselves to efficiently fleeing in terror. Luckily the monster was not a fast runner, but still it steadily closed the distance between them as Peeta seemed to trip on every rock and tree root in their path. Peeta urged Katniss to run on ahead of him, but she refused, grasping his hand tightly and urging him on faster.

She looked ahead of them to see the bearded man duck into a thicket of tall grass on the shoreline. It seemed like suicide; did he honestly think he could hide there from the Snow-Man? But continuing to outrun it indefinitely was obviously not a viable option, so Katniss urged more speed from Peeta. They followed the older man's path, not even slowing as they ran headlong into the thicket just ahead of the Snow-Man. When they emerged at the lakeside, they found the man they had been following arguing with another man, tall and athletic with golden skin and bronze hair. But more importantly, both men were standing on what appeared to be a large raft.

The golden man's jaw fell open when he saw Katniss and Peeta. The bearded man just smirked, and gestured towards the raft. "You two coming or not? Time's a-wasting."

Katniss didn't take the time to snark back at him. She didn't know yet if they could trust these strangers, but the older man seemed too blasé to be selling a lie, and she would rather deal with these two strangers than stay and deal with the Abominable Snow-Man. She all but threw Peeta onto the raft before stepping on after him. The bronze man used a long oar he was holding to push off the shallow lakebed under them, deftly maintaining the balance of the raft and pushing away from the shore in one move.

Looking back, Katniss could see the Snow-Man effortlessly trampling the grass stalks that had left stinging marks on her face moments before. This close to the water's edge the lake was only a few feet deep, but when the monster stepped off the shore it sank right up to its waist. Not understanding what she was seeing, Katniss turned to her new companions, only to find them chortling at the sight behind them. "You want to know 'Bominable's one weakness, sweetheart?" the older man said at her baffled expression. "'Bominable sinks!"

Behind them, the Snow-Man struggled fruitlessly at the lakebed muck it had mired itself in. The great beast threw its arms out wide and let out a cry so loud it shook the world, roaring out its frustration as it watched the foursome on their raft drifting lazily away.

"So what do we do with them?" the taller man - Finnick, he had introduced himself as - asked his companion later.

"Can't leave them on their own to wander into the Snow-Man again," the older man - Haymitch - replied. "Have to just take them with us, I guess,"

"Take us where?" Katniss demanded. "Where are we going?"

Haymitch looked amused by her skeptical tone. "District 13," he said.

"The district of misfits."

...

Two days later, Katniss and Peeta stood in the middle of a large assembly hall, being greeted by the population of District 13.

"Thirteen always had these underground bunkers," a stern-looking man named Boggs was explaining. "When the Snow-Man attacked 74 years ago, the population retreated underground. While the district was destroyed above-ground, the people were safe down here. Ever since then, we've acted as a refuge for misfits from other districts."

"Misfits?" Katniss asked hopefully. "You mean you take in people who don't fit in anywhere else?"

"That's right," Boggs said, clapping the man next to him on the shoulder. "Take Dalton here. He knows everything there is to know about breeding cows."

"You'd think that would be a real asset in District 10," Peeta said.

"Yeah, it would be," Dalton mumbled, looking resolutely at the floor at his feet. "Too bad I'm from District 8. Nobody cares about cows in District 8."

"We're a couple of misfits too," Peeta said, trying to cheer up the morose cow enthusiast. "That's why we left District 12."

"Yeah," Katniss said, hitching her bow up on her shoulder and trying to infuse her voice with more confidence than she really felt in front of this group of strangers. "I'm not a miner. I'm a hunter. I hunt animals. In the woods."

"Oh yeah?" A tall, imposing figure stepped forward out of the crowd, a man with the dark olive skin, slate gray eyes, and straight black hair common to the Seam. He and Katniss looked like they could be cousins. "I'm a hunter too. I don't remember you."

Katniss jutted out her chin, refusing to be intimidated. "Well, I don't normally hunt in District 13."

"Ha!" Haymitch barked out. "Told you guys she had spunk!" The tall man smiled widely, and introduced himself as Gale, a hunter and former coal miner from Twelve.

"What's your story, kid?" Haymitch asked Peeta.

Peeta took a deep breath, trying to emulate Katniss's fearlessness. "I have a fake leg," he said with barely any stammer, lifting his pant leg to display his prosthetic. "I got tired of having to hide every day."

Everyone seemed to be studying his leg, until a tall, dark-skinned man next to Haymitch spoke up. "Well, would you look at that thing! I'm Chaff, from District 11. Put 'er there!" The man thrust his arm out towards Peeta, who saw that it ended in a stump just short of where his wrist would have been.

With only a second's hesitation, Peeta reached out and grabbed the man's stump, grasping it firmly and giving it a few strong shakes. "Pleased to meet you, Chaff." The taller man gave a hearty laugh as their arms dropped back to their sides.

With the tension seemingly broken, introductions proceeded apace. First two men stepped forward together, both burly with sandy hair and full beards. "I'm Castor, and this is my brother Pollux," one of them said. "Before we came here, the Peacekeepers in District 5 cut out my brother's tongue to stop him from speaking out against the Abominable Snow-Man."

Katniss shuddered, remembering how she used to sing The Hanging Tree with her father, and how her mother had forbidden the song as soon as she overheard her daughter singing it. Was this the fate she had been afraid of?

Finnick approached, escorting a lovely young woman with flowing brown hair. "My wife Annie has a mental illness. She has panic attacks, and sometimes she gets distracted and disappears into her own head. The people in District 4 saw it as a weakness they couldn't afford, not with the Snow-Man breathing down everyone's neck. They just called her a 'poor mad girl' and tried to keep her shut up in her house; out of sight, out of mind. Here in Thirteen, they have medications and therapy to help her manage her illness."

Katniss thought again of her mother, of how she spent years lost to the world after her father had died. The rest of Twelve had turned a blind eye to the Everdeens' suffering, either out of ignorance or out of indifference. In recent years the old healer had been treating herself with concoctions formulated from plants Katniss collected in the woods. What could she have done with proper medicine, and therapy? Would she have fewer lost years? Would Katniss have still had a mother through her teenage years? How much different would their lives have been?

More and more Thirteen residents came forward to share their stories. A hulking boy from Two named Cato, who was destined to be trained in combat but whose real passion was art. A tiny girl from Eleven named Rue who eschewed fieldwork for music, which she said was her favorite thing in the world. Sae, an old woman who was a gifted chef but was denied the opportunity to explore that talent in the Seam of District 12. A fox-faced girl from District 5 who was being groomed to work in her district's power plants but instead developed a love of nature and a knowledge of wild plants. A pair of scientists who had a disturbing speaking style where one would begin a sentence but trail off in the middle, only for the other to pick up and finish the thought, an idiosyncrasy that had left them outcast and ostracized in District 3. Hermie, a factory worker from District 8 who walked away from the production line to pursue dentistry. An awkwardly tall and gangly young man named Marvel who didn't fit in in District 1, where physical beauty was highly prized. An older pair from District 6, who had been treated as criminals and vermin there because of their drug addiction, but who had received treatment in Thirteen and were now valued members of the Thirteen art community.

A girl from Four who hated the water. A boy from Nine who was allergic to gluten. A conservationist from Seven. A vegetarian from Ten. A pacifist from Two. Everyone had a story of how they had been misfits in their home districts, but as everyone shared their backgrounds Katniss noticed that one resident had been conspicuously silent. "What about you, Haymitch? What's your story?"

The entire room quieted as they turned expectantly to Haymitch. "I'm from Twelve," he said, gesturing to the miner's pick now hanging from his belt. "Had a run-in with the Snow-Man about twenty years ago, and he killed my whole family. My mother, my little brother, and my best girl, all gone. There was no way I was going back to mining coal after that. There's a group of us, some here in Thirteen but some still in the districts, who are working to bring the monster down."

There was an awkward silence after Haymitch's revelation. Peeta took it upon himself to break it. "Do you think we could stay here with you?" he asked. "We didn't really have any other destination in mind when we left Twelve."

"Of course," Boggs said. "This district has always been a safe haven for misfits. Gale, why don't you show them where they can stay?"

The tall man smiled widely, and Peeta felt his gut twist in jealousy at the way Gale looked at Katniss. "Of course. Let's go."

It took two elevators and a staircase to get them to the residential level. Peeta was completely lost, but he knew that Katniss, with her hunter's skills, knew exactly where they were. Finally Gale opened a door and gestured them inside.

The room was spartan, at best. The walls were plain concrete, like every wall they'd seen since coming underground. There was a small couch, a bed, a clothes chest, and a doorway at the back that presumably lead to a bathroom. It would probably be an increase in comfort compared to sleeping on the ground out in the open, but certainly a step down in decor.

"You'll stay in here, Peeta," Gale said. "I'll let you get settled in. Katniss, come on, I'll show you to your compartment."

Katniss felt an unexpected surge of panic at the thought of being separated from Peeta. Without thinking, she latched out and grabbed Peeta's hand, squeezing it tightly to reassure her of his continued presence. "That's okay, um, I'll just stay in here."

"Oh!" Gale's eyebrows shot up his forehead in surprise, even as Katniss averted her gaze in embarrassment at her outburst. "I didn't know- I didn't realize- Er, right, well, in that case, I'll just leave you to it." With that he gave a weird sort of nod and beat a hasty retreat from the compartment.

For his own part, Peeta was feeling a bit bewildered. He had just been settling into his jealousy over Katniss attracting the attention of another man, and then he blinked and they seemed to be living together. "Katniss?" he asked for want of any more specific question coming to mind.

"I'm sorry," she said. "That was very presumptuous of me. I just… We've been together almost every minute since we left Twelve, I guess I just panicked a little. You were probably looking forward to getting rid of me for a while, weren't you? Finally having some privacy and some time to yourself. I shouldn't have imposed on you. I bet Gale is still nearby, maybe I can catch him and-" She moved to walk away, but Peeta didn't let go of her hand, stopping her after only a step.

"Katniss," he repeated, softer this time, pulling her around to face him. Her cheeks were flushed, either from embarrassment or from the torrent of words that had just tumbled from her mouth. Her mouth still hung open slightly where she hadn't bothered to close it after being interrupted. Her eyes were wide with worry. But she still clutched Peeta's hand in hers.

And that was the first time he kissed her.

…..

Now, don't misunderstand me: Both Katniss and Peeta had some very good times in their young lives. While they certainly did not have idyllic childhoods, as has already been recounted in this tale, do not doubt that they both carried many happy memories. But those few months living in District 13 were among the happiest Katniss and Peeta had ever had. For the first time, they were both accepted for who they were. Peeta put his baking skills to work in the Thirteen kitchen, finally experiencing the satisfaction of feeding people without the overbearing presence of his mother. He also got his first chance to apply his artistic inclinations to a medium other than frosting, proving himself to be skilled first at sketching, and later at painting on canvas. He felt an immediate kinship with Cato, Annie, the pair from District 6, and the other Thirteen artists who all aided and critiqued each other's work.

Thirteen had more advanced medical technology than was available in Twelve, and soon after their arrival Peeta was fitted with a new prosthetic leg. It was made out of corrosion-resistant metal and plastic, much more durable than his old wooden leg, which had honestly taken quite a beating during his and Katniss's journey through the woods. The new leg had shock-absorbing features that were designed to cushion the impact of walking in a way his Twelve prosthetics never did. Katniss was amazed at how smoothly he was able to walk with his new leg, and how little discomfort he had at the end of each day compared to what he had suffered with his old one.

Katniss and Gale became hunting partners, and fast friends. He taught her how to set snares and she taught him to shoot a bow. They hunted above-ground in the land around the ruins of Old Thirteen and brought their proceeds to Sae and Peeta in the kitchen. Any lingering jealousy Peeta felt was greatly alleviated by the fact that he was the one sharing her bed every night. Well, that and all the kissing.

The kissing was new to both of them, but they turned out to be quick studies. Deciding to share a compartment was liberating, despite the close quarters. After that day, both of their feelings had been made clear, and neither held back for fear of rejection any longer. They each grew bolder as time went on and- Well, why don't I just stop there, there are young ears around after all. Two teenagers, sharing a bed every night, falling in love for the first time, with no parents around, none of the constrictions and expectations of the society they grew up in... I don't really need to spell it out for you, do I? Let's just say that birth control shots were another Thirteen medical advance they were grateful for.

...

Unbenounced to our young Misfit Lovers, events outside their cozy shelter at Thirteen did not stand still without them. The Abominable Snow-Man continued to exert his power over the districts. The districts continued to chafe under the strictures of his rule. Haymitch, Finnick, and their group of allies continued to move in secret to undermine the Snow-Man. They both came and went frequently on various missions to support that end. Many Thirteen residents were involved; even Gale went on a few trips. But Katniss and Peeta remained blissfully uninvolved, spending their time basking in their newfound freedom and their newfound love.

It was three months into their stay in Thirteen, almost five since they had first left home, when that protective bubble of happiness was shattered. Katniss and Peeta were in the dining hall, sitting with Sae and Gale the other kitchen workers, enjoying their own mealtime after having already fed the rest of the district, when a bloody and disheveled Haymitch Abernathy came bursting into the room, almost collapsing on the floor before someone managed to guide him to a chair. Via halting words while gulping down water and practically inhaling a bowl of stew, he reported the horrible news: The steady flow of misfits to District 13 had finally attracted the attention of the Snow-Man, and he was on a rampage. Parts of District 9 had been devastated, the endless wheat fields set ablaze. When the population of District 2 retreated into a bunker built inside a mountain, the Snow-Man set off rockslides blocking all the exits and air vents, trapping everyone inside. Katniss and Gale, who had both lost their fathers in mining accidents in Twelve, couldn't believe that even the Abominable monster could be that cruel.

The worst by far was District 4. Even Haymitch had to stop and collect himself as he struggled to recount the fight that had taken place there. The escape of refugees from Four had been bought with the lives of many brave souls, including an 80-year-old local resistance leader Mags, and their own Finnick Odair, nearly decapitated by a single swipe of the great monster's paw as he parried with his trident and bought time for evacuees. Katniss buried her face against Peeta's shoulder, greedy for the safe enclosure of his embrace as she mourned her newfound friend.

"Where is the Snow-Man now?" asked Boggs, one of many who had joined them over the course of Haymitch's tale. "Is he coming here?"

Haymitch shook his head. "He was headed towards Eleven when I left to come back here. Odds are he'll head for Twelve after that." Rue and some other Eleven natives made sounds of dismay, but the large contingent of Twelvers silently regarded each other.

It was Katniss who gave voice to their thoughts. "What can we do?"

Haymitch looked up at her in surprise, but before he could say anything Boggs spoke. "Nothing. It's probably already too late to help District 11."

"But not too late for Twelve," Gale said. "With the vehicles we have in the hangar we can get to Twelve ahead of the Snow-Man. We can warn people, evacuate…"

"Like we did in Four?" Haymitch asked, dejected.

"It was only a handful of you in Four," Gale countered. "With more people, more time to prepare…"

"It's too big a risk," Boggs said with finality.

"We have to try," Peeta said. "How can we stay here, safe in our bunker, when so many people are out there, suffering and dying? What kind of people would do that? What kind of people are we if we can help but we choose not to?"

"Living people," said Jackson, a Thirteen native and Boggs's top lieutenant. "That's how we stay alive, by laying low and not putting ourselves in jeopardy. Isn't that what Haymitch is always saying, stay alive? That's what we've done for 74 years. That's what we do in Thirteen. We stay alive."

"But at what cost?" Peeta pressed on. "Didn't you hear what Haymitch just said? People are dying! By the thousands! Do you really think anyone can survive this?"

"The boy may have a point," Haymitch chimed in. "If 'Bominable's lashing out like this, he must be scared. And if he's scared, it's cause he's vulnerable."

"Or he's just pissed," Boggs said. "It'd be safer to lay low and see if this blows over."

"Finnick wouldn't do that," said a new voice. Everybody looked up to see Annie entering the hall. "Finnick wouldn't shy away from danger. If he were here, he'd want to help."

"But he isn't here, because the Snow-Man killed him," said Jackson. Annie silently stood her ground.

"Don't you see what Haymitch is saying?" Peeta said. "If the monster is as vulnerable as he says it is, then we have a real chance here."

"Chance for what?" asked Boggs."

"To end this!" Peeta shouted, growing exasperated at the reluctance to help. "Not just now, not just for the next 74 years, but forever! Kill the Abominable Snow-Man and live free, everywhere, in every district."

Boggs seemed to be thinking about it. Peeta's persuasive words were winning him over. "We do know he's vulnerable," Haymitch repeated.

"And we know where he's headed next," said Gale.

"District 12," Boggs said, almost to himself. Then his voice stiffened as he made a decision. "With the vehicles we can get a team there in a few days."

"We'll have time to organize an evacuation," Katniss said.

"And plan a trap for the monster," Gale added.

"How reliable…" Wiress began.

"...is your electricity in Twelve?" Beetee finished for her.

They were up late into the night planning.

…..

Thirteen started its life as a defensive bunker, but it was not a military compound. They did not have an arsenal of weapons sitting around, waiting to be used in an attack on the Abominable Snow-Man. They had a group of military enthusiasts who spent their time target shooting and called themselves soldiers: Jackson, twin sisters Mara and Jada Leeg, and two older men named Homes and Mitchell. They had Katniss and Gale and their two bows. Haymitch had his miner's pick.

That wasn't even enough weapons for everyone who was ready to volunteer for the mission. "The Snow-Man is bigger than us, stronger than us, and we only have a handful of weapons," Boggs lamented. "What advantage do we have on our side?"

Haymitch's lips split in a predatory grin. "Guile."

…..

By the time they got to Twelve, it was clear that they had failed to arrive before the Abominable Snow-Man. The fence separating the Meadow from the woods had been smashed from the outside, which was just as well because no one had really understood Beetee and Wiress's electricity plan anyway. The Hob and several houses in the Seam were on fire, and the sounds of continued destruction could be heard from the town.

"This way!" Peeta gestured for the group to follow him, running swiftly on his new prosthetic. He and Katniss lead them all through Twelve, with Haymitch and Gale near the rear of the group to make sure no one got lost. Once they arrived at the town square, they could see that the main action was focussed on the Justice Building. It was a massive brick and concrete structure, the largest and sturdiest building in Twelve, and the people's best chance of withstanding the Snow-Man's attack. Katniss could see Mayor Undersee and his daughter Madge herding people into the south entrance even as the Snow-Man battered the north-facing wall.

"Squad, ready!" Once the Snow-Man was in view, Jackson and her group took point. The five soldiers rushed forward and set up firing positions within range of the monster, crouching down to take cover behind the remains of the butcher's shop.

"You think this'll work?" Peeta panted as the rest of them hurried around a corner.

"It has to," Katniss said.

"Seems too easy," Haymitch said. "If we could just shoot the 'Bominable, someone would have done it by now."

"Not everyone has weapons like this," Gale pointed out.

By then the squad was in position. "Squad: Take aim!" Jackson's voice called out over the din. "FIRE!"

The sound of gunfire surprised Katniss. A light popping sound came from where the soldiers were positioned. She was hoping to see the monster fall to the ground, blood pouring from its wounds. Instead it just cocked its head and began looking in the direction of the soldiers.

"Fire!" Jackson's voice called out again, followed by more popping. Now the monster found where the soldiers were, and left the Justice Building to move in that direction. Mayor Undersee could see what was happening, but he remained focussed on gathering as many people as possible inside the building, grateful for the reprieve and for the moment not risking investigating where it had come from.

As the Snow-Man picked up speed and came closer to the squad, it was clear that the continued fire was having little to no effect on the monster. In fact, it seemed as if the bullets were somehow being repelled by the creature's skin.

Suddenly Haymitch cursed under his breath. "Of course," he said. "The bullets won't work. 'Bominable _bounces_."

It took a moment for what Haymitch had said to sink in. Boggs ran out from their cover towards the soldiers. "Fall back!" he called out to the squad. "Fall back!"

As they picked up their weapons and began their retreat, Katniss knew what their next course of action was. "We need to lure the monster away from the district!"

Peeta nodded. "You and Haymitch lead the way," he said, knowing that they were the quickest thinkers and knew the woods outside the fence better than anyone. He landed a quick kiss to Katniss's lips and was sprinting towards Boggs and Jackson before she could object. "Keep firing!" he told the squad. "We have to keep his attention!" The squad understood; they peppered the Snow-Man with intermittent bursts of gunfire as the group made their retreat, following Katniss and Haymitch back towards the Meadow and the woods beyond.

The group made their way back through the district. Katniss wanted to try to lure the Snow-Man into the Hob fire, but they had no time to come up with a plan and had to keep moving to keep ahead of the monster. Instead they continued out towards the woods, hoping to come up with a new plan once they had led the monster away from the district and its residents.

Soon enough they crossed through the Seam, through the Meadow, past the fence, headed towards Katniss's old hunting grounds. Had it really only been a handful of months since she had hunted here? It felt like a lifetime ago. She chanced a look over her shoulder to make sure Peeta was okay, and spied him running with Boggs and Jackson. At some point he had wound up with one of the squad's rifles, turning every so often to unleash another volley of fire at the Snow-Man, making sure to keep it enraged enough to keep following them.

"Where to now?" Gale huffed out between breaths as he ran behind her.

Katniss considered what little she knew about the Snow-Man. "There's a river about a mile out where I used to fish. Maybe we could get him stuck in the water again?"

"Sounds like as good a plan as any," Haymitch said. "At least buy us some time. Lead the way, sweetheart."

Katniss ignored the nickname and began to turn them northward towards the river. Her father had first showed it to her when she was very young, the river teeming with fish and a mighty waterfall where the river flowed over a cliff face. She had spent many afternoons there with her father, checking the fishing lines and watching the waterfall. It was where he had first shown her her namesake, the distinctive arrowhead leaf of the katniss plant. "As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve," he had told her. And after he died, he had been proven correct. Now she was hoping that her father's river could save them all.

She felt better once they entered a more heavily-wooded area, knowing that the trees would slow down the giant Snow-Man more than it would her group from Thirteen. She, Haymitch, and Gale had just reached the riverbank, were just catching their breath and coming up with ideas how to lure the monster into the water, when she heard a yell from back by the treeline that she would recognize anywhere. "Peeta!"

…..

Peeta struggled to suck a breath into his lungs. He had just been emerging from the trees by what looked like a river when his prosthetic caught on a root and sent him sprawling to the ground, knocking all the wind out of him. He had already seen Mitchell sacrifice himself to the monster by the old district fence, letting himself be torn to pieces in order to buy the rest of them precious seconds. Peeta only hoped his own death would prove equally valuable.

Before he fully had his bearings, he could feel a massive hand closing around his torso. He reached out blindly towards where Mitchell's gun had fallen, but was barely able to brush it with his fingertips before he was being lifted off the ground. He soon found himself face to face with the Abominable Snow-Man. The Snow-Man let out a deafening roar, and Peeta could see each and every one of the monster's razor-sharp teeth. He could smell its breath, which was decidedly unpleasant. Thinking quickly, he twisted in the monster's grasp, managing to pull off his prosthetic leg. He could hear Katniss yelling for him, and the gunfire from the soldiers, but he had to concentrate, to act at just the right moment. As the monster moved to take a great bite out of him, Peeta thrust his leg into its mouth and jammed its jaw open.

The Snow-Man roared in pain and frustration, letting Peeta slip from his grasp and fall to the ground. Peeta landed with a hard thud, coughing and sputtering as what little breath he had managed to regain was knocked from him again. Before he could roll himself onto his back, Katniss was there to help him. "Peeta!" she cried as she knelt over him. "Are you okay? Peeta!" He tried to respond, tried to reassure her, but all he could do was nod. He clumsily reached out for her when he felt her tears falling against his face, and she clutched him around the shoulders, just to reassure herself that he was really there and still in one piece.

"Katniss," he was finally able to choke out. "He's vulnerable." She loosened her grip on him so she could look him in the face. "If you shoot him in the mouth… If you can hit him right down his throat… He's vulnerable."

Katniss understood what he was saying. "Yes…" She picked up her bow from where she had thrown it in the dirt in her rush to help Peeta.

"I'm okay," Peeta said. "Go. End this."

Meanwhile, the soldiers were still trying to herd the enraged beast towards the river, but whether out of pain or anger or because he knew it would trap him, the monster wouldn't take the bait. He swiped at the group, sending Homes and Jackson falling to the ground. The Leeg sisters kept up their fire, but the Snow-Man ignored the hail of bullets like they were so many insects. Then, they heard Katniss's command.

"Stop firing!" she called out to the two remaining soldiers. "I need it to stay still!" Boggs turned to see Katniss standing on a small rise, bow drawn and poised to shoot. He wasn't sure what her plan was, but what they were doing didn't seem to be working, so he nodded to the Leegs to do as she said. Once the fire let up the Snow-Man began to move towards the soldiers, but Katniss let loose two quick arrows that bounced off the side of the monster's face. By the time Boggs and the others turned to look at her, she already had a third ready to go.

As the monster turned its attention to her, Katniss held her bowstring taut, but she held back from firing the arrow. She let the Snow-Man come closer, waiting for her moment. When it was barely fifty feet away from her it turned its head downwards, and she released her arrow. It sailed straight through the Snow-Man's gaping mouth, the fletching just brushing Peeta's leg before the arrow embedded itself in the back of the monster's throat. And before the beast could even react to the pain, another arrow was sailing down its gullet, embedding itself inches from the first.

The Snow-Man reacted to two arrows in its throat about as well as you'd expect, violently thrashing about in a futile attempt to dislodge them. It almost seemed to gag, and when it leaned forward again a bloody dribble ran down its chin. When it held this position for a moment, Katniss was able to land a third arrow right in the creature's eye. The soldiers let loose with another volley of gunfire, but the Snow-Man paid it no attention at all. Despite having three arrows sticking out of it and being in obvious distress, the monster showed no signs of slowing, stumbling away from the river and over towards the steep drop-off of the cliff.

"It's time to take this thing down," Haymitch said.

"We're trying!" Boggs replied.

"We don't exactly have a lot of targets," Gale grumbled.

"'Bominable's gotta be thin-skinned somewhere on that hide of his," Haymitch said, "Lemme at 'em!"" He hoisted his miner's pick and took off toward the Snow-Man. before anyone could stop him.

The monster was still thrashing in pain, and took little notice as Haymitch grabbed handfuls of the beast's fur and began climbing it like a tree. He seemed to be testing the skin as he went, and after almost being crushed under the monster's arm he turned away from the armpit and concentrated his attention on its neck. The next time the monster threw its head back in agony, Haymitch took a great swing with his pick and managed to embed it in the skin under the creature's jaw.

After wrenching his tool free and taking a few more swings, he had opened a sizable hole in the monster's flesh. The great Abominable Snow-Man was truly staggered now, no longer violently thrashing, its movements labored and sluggish. But Haymitch was relentless, hacking away at the creature's neck until he was rewarded with a great shower of blood. The man just grinned as the thick red liquid rained down on him. "Don't you know the thing about the 'Bominable?" he called out joyously. "'Bominable bleeds!"

It was Gale who saw what was about to happen and tried to call out a warning. "Haymitch, get down from there!"

But it was too late. With Haymitch still clutching onto its chest, the defeated creature fell to its knees just at the edge of the cliff next to the waterfall, then pitched forward and fell over the edge.

Everyone ran over to the cliff. "Haymitch!" Katniss called out, but it was too late. He was gone, along with the Abominable Snow-Man.

…..

Well, there was nothing left for our weary band of fighters to do but gather themselves up and limp back to the district. There'd be time to mourn for their friends later. They were a right sorry lot, traipsing through the woods. Jackson was cradling an arm that was probably broken, courtesy of that strike by the Snow-Man. Boggs and Gale took position on either side of Peeta, acting as human crutches, helping him hop along. Katniss walked on Gale's other side, so she could hold Peeta's hand where it rested on Gale's shoulder.

When they finally made it back to Twelve, they found the people just beginning to emerge from the basement under the Justice Building. Katniss was reunited with her mother and her sister Prim for the first time in many months. Peeta was glad to see his family as well, though their reunion was much more subdued than that of the Everdeen women.

"Oh, no, Peeta!" exclaimed his friend Delly Cartwright when she saw him. "Did you lose your leg in the fight with the Abominable Snow-Man?"

"Um, no, Delly." Peeta awkwardly explained to his friends that he had never had a leg, how he had used a prosthetic his whole life and had been forced by his family to hide it. How it was the reason he left the district. He clutched tightly to Katniss's hand to keep himself steady throughout. He received a wide range of reactions. Some of his friends and neighbors regarded him with open disdain, others with distaste. Some were supportive. Some were angry at him for the deception, an attitude he could only laugh at. The best reaction by far was from young Primrose Everdeen, who couldn't contain her healer's curiosity as she peppered him with questions about the advanced prosthetic he had gotten in Thirteen.

Eventually, the team from Thirteen began to explain where they came from, why they were there, and what had happened to the Abominable Snow-Man. As the citizens of Twelve heard the story of the misfit district, of how they had driven several of their own to take refuge there, of the team of misfits coming to protect Twelve from the rampaging Snow-Man, sacrificing two of their own in the fight to rid Panem of the menacing beast - Let me tell you, friends, they had an awful lot to think about. Like about how they had let their fear of the Abominable Snow-Man turn them into cruel, intolerant people. It wasn't the Snow-Man who had chased these people out of their home districts, it had been ordinary people. Their friends and neighbors. Their parents. Maybe all of that wasn't necessary. Maybe they had been too hard on people just because they were different. Maybe they had a lot to make amends for. Maybe misfits had a place, too.

The damage to the district was extensive. The fire that had started at the Hob had spread to consume several Seam homes. Many of the buildings in town were partially or totally demolished. Even the sturdy Justice Building had some minor damage where the great creature had battered the northern wall. Mayor Undersee was grim but determined as he assessed the future of his district. "The Justice Building is large enough to be used as a shelter for anyone who needs it until the homes can be rebuilt," he announced. "With the Abominable Snow-Man's quotas gone, the mines will be closed until further notice. We need every available hand working on rebuilding." He took a deep breath. "But, with that in mind, I'm afraid we're going to have to cancel the Harvest Festival for this year."

The people of Twelve were heartbroken to hear that. As you know, the Harvest Festival is the highlight of the winter here in Twelve. It's the best day there is between when the leaves change in the fall and when the first dandelion of the spring is spotted. People tried to argue with the mayor about canceling the festival, but he saw no other option. "Look around you! The festival was supposed to be less than a week away, and the district is in shambles. I'm sorry, I truly am, but there's nothing we can do."

"But we have so many people here," Katniss plead with him. "Rebuilding will take time, but surely we can clear away the worst of the rubble in a week."

"We probably could," the mayor conceded. "But a festival is much more than that. It's food, and music, and decoration, and fun. And we aren't in a position to provide any of that this year."

"We are." Peeta spoke up from where he was seated by a tree - it had been a long time since he had tried to get around without a prosthetic, it was very tiring. He used the tree to help balance as he stood on his leg, and accepted Katniss's aid as he made his way over to where the mayor stood. "We have artists, musicians, chefs, designers, engineers, everything you need. Most of these folks haven't spent a lot of time above-ground since arriving at Thirteen, they'd jump at the chance to throw an outdoor festival. A lot of them might want to move here permanently, help us rebuild. Only, these aren't perfect cookie-cutter citizens. They're misfits. They follow their own passions. They have quirks and idiosyncrasies. They have mental illnesses and physical impairments. They've already been chased away from their homes once."

Mayor Undersee took on a serious tone. "Son, a lot has been done wrong in this district over the years, in terms of accepting people. But from now on, for as long as I'm mayor, we're going to work hard to fix that."

Peeta nodded. "Okay. Then let's go get some friends."

…..

When they arrived back at their vehicle, they found another surprise.

"Haymitch!" Katniss exclaimed, as the dishevelled and very wet man came into view, casually laying under a tree.

"Took you folks long enough," he grumbled as he stood. "I was beginning to think I was gonna have to huff it all the way back to Twelve."

Everyone just stared at him, too stunned to speak. They had watched him tumble over the cliff with the Snow-Man. "Don't mind my appearance, I took a bath in a frozen river. 'Bominable blood, nasty stuff. Oh, I also took the liberty of washing this for ya, kid."

He snatched something from behind the tree and tossed it at Peeta. Peeta caught it before he took a good look at what it was.

It was his leg.

"Spent an afternoon down the 'Bominable's gullet and doesn't appear to be any worse for the wear. Those Thirteen materials folks really know their stuff." After a brief inspection for physical damage, Peeta happily slipped the prosthetic into place and began taking some practice steps to make sure everything was still working properly.

"But… but… you went over the side of the cliff!" Katniss managed to get out.

Haymitch smirked at her. "Don't you remember the thing about the 'Bominable, sweetheart? 'Bominable _bounces_."

…..

Things moved very quickly after that. They only had a week to prepare, after all. Teams of laborers who no longer had to risk their lives underground worked to remove the debris left from the Snow-Man's attack. At the same time, a team of artists led by Peeta and Annie worked to beautify the district, putting up decorations and painting huge murals on the remaining freestanding walls in town. Katniss and Gale hunted up so much wild game that they had trouble carrying it back to the district, and delivered it all to Greasy Sae and her team of cooks to be transformed into savory roasts and hearty stews. Enough to feed the cleanup crews while still preparing the festival feast.

Beetee and Wiress delivered electrically-powered ovens to replace the coal-fired ovens that had been lost with the destruction of the bakery. Mrs. Mellark, still put out that her youngest son was spending his time decorating rather than returning to the family baking business, turned her nose up at the idea of baking with "science ovens" rather than the brick and coal she was used to. The Mellark men were more accepting, however, and after a few experiments and with a few pointers from Peeta who had been using them in Thirteen for several months they were soon able to turn out breads and pastries and cakes even faster with the new ovens than they had with the old.

Before anyone knew it, it was time for the festival, and wouldn't you know it it turned out to be the biggest and best Harvest Festival anyone could remember. With all of Twelve celebrating their survival, plus all the misfits from Thirteen joining the celebration. With all of Katniss and Gale's game meat and the prodigious output the Mellark bakers were able to coax from the science ovens. With music and singing and dancing led by people who devoted all of their time to the pursuits, and who took a keen interest in the traditional Twelve dances the district residents were only too happy to show off. With an impromptu memorial to Bill Mitchell and Finnick Odair and all the others who died fighting the Abominable Snow-Man's tyranny, a precursor to the one that now stands over on the other side of the grocer's.

And in the middle of it all was our pair of Misfit Lovers, Katniss and Peeta. Somehow in just the few days of preparing for the festival, their story had become almost legendary in Twelve. How they had escaped the district that wouldn't let them be their true selves. How they had survived in the wild for weeks, before finally finding a refuge for all misfits. How they had recruited their new misfit friends to come and help Twelve in our hour of need, and had saved all of Panem from the evil Snow-Man. It's amazing what people will believe when it makes them feel good, even people who had grown up with Katniss and Peeta and had been apart from them for less than six months believed the tallest of tall tales about the pair. I don't need to recount the kinds of wild stories that circulated, no doubt you've already heard them, cause most of them are still circulating today.

But you didn't come to me to hear ridiculous legends, you came to me to hear truth. Well here's the truth: Katniss and Peeta, despite their own protests to the contrary, were both pretty extraordinary people. Plenty of people in those days went along with what they were told, but not Katniss. Plenty of people suffer in silence, but not Peeta. They didn't just daydream about doing something drastic to make their lives better, they got up and did it. That's extraordinary motivation. And even though they were both in a completely new circumstance that neither was really prepared for, they still managed to grow together. It can take extraordinary courage to trust another person like that in uncertain circumstances.

And in the end, they did defeat the Abominable Snow-Man. Haymitch may have struck the final blow, but Katniss had already inflicted fatal wounds, and before that it was Peeta who disarmed the beast by eliminating its bite as a threat, and nobody from Thirteen would even have been there if it wasn't for the determination of Katniss and Peeta to come back and help the district that had forced them to leave. That's extraordinary loyalty.

So don't get too caught up in the rumors and legends that make them out to be larger-than-life or perfect people or all-powerful or anything like that. But don't sell them short, either. They deserve our respect, and our thanks, every bit as much as the folks listed on that memorial over there. We owe them our freedom from the dictates of the Snow-Man, and we owe them acceptance of people who don't fit the norm.

…..

What's that? What happened _after?_ Ah, that's your real question, isn't it? Not much is generally known about Katniss and Peeta's lives after that. Many of the history books end with that Harvest Festival, with maybe a page or two about their lives after tacked on.

Well, the truth is they led very quiet lives after the defeat of the Snow-Man. Along with the other immigrants from Thirteen they worked hard to aid the rebuilding process. After reconstruction they moved into a house in a newly-built development on the outskirts of Twelve, the neighborhood you all now know as the Victor's Village. At the time it was close to the woods but removed from the major population centers in the town and the Seam. Katniss hunted, and Peeta baked, and they had no real need to visit the rest of the district very often. And as their story began to spread outside Twelve and more and more people came looking for the famous Misfit Lovers, their trips into town became rarer and rarer. Their families and friends would travel out there to visit them, rather than Katniss and Peeta coming to visit them. And the people of Twelve, they took care of their own. That gate at the entrance to Victor's Village was built to protect them from reporters and attention-seekers.

When the New Panem Republic was in the early planning stages, everyone wanted the Misfit Lovers involved. Before it had even been decided what form the new government would take, people wanted them to lead it. Co-presidents, or leaders of the Panem Council, or a hundred other ideas. Katniss and Peeta steadfastly refused to be involved. Katniss was a hunter; Peeta was an artist and a baker; neither of them were governors or administrators, and in the end being forced into government wasn't that much different from being forced to mine coal. They wouldn't even tell people who they voted for in the eventual election, though the rumor was that they were both supporters of President Paylor.

As time went by the furor about them began to die down. People became more interested in the legend of the Misfit Lovers than in the reality of two very private people leading very private lives. A lot of folks outside their family didn't even know they had kids until one day about twenty years later when they showed up at the first day of school with a five-year-old girl clutching her father's hand and a toddler boy hitched on his mother's hip.

Over the years memories became history, history became legend, legend became myth, until finally young people like you had to find a slightly drunk old man at the festival in order to hear the straight truth. But that's okay. The details aren't that important after all these years. Was Annie a brunette or a redhead? Was Haymitch a pale townie or a dark Seamer? Did District 11 riot against the Snow-Man's rule or did they just try their best to survive it? Forgetting things like that doesn't change the overall moral of the story. If some wild tale someone invented out of whole cloth helps people, makes them hold true to their real passions, makes them value democracy and well-functioning government, makes them love and value all kinds of people, well where's the harm in that?

Oh look, they're getting ready to sing the festival song. Come help an old man up out of his chair. I always love joining the rest of the district in singing the festival song, don't you? Loud, clear voices, now. Here we go.

_Peeta the one-legged baker  
__Went through life with only one leg  
__He hid it well with his prosthetic  
__But a close exam would have him pegged_

_Katniss the highly-skilled hunter  
__Would be forced to just mine coal  
__She wanted control of her life  
__So she ran away from home_

_At first glance they were too different  
__A kind boy and a surly girl  
__But what made them misfits made them great  
__And that is why we celebrate_

_They defeated the evil Snow-Man  
__Welcomed outcasts from Thirteen  
__Peeta and Katniss together  
__Made an unstoppable team!_


End file.
